


"...at our peril, risk and hazard"

by exbex



Category: due South
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-14
Updated: 2013-09-14
Packaged: 2017-12-26 14:33:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/967075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exbex/pseuds/exbex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stella is about to walk Ray down the aisle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	"...at our peril, risk and hazard"

**Author's Note:**

> Slightly AU, as Stella has not remarried in this verse.

She can see Ray before he can see her. The door is open, but he’s looking in the mirror, focused on straightening his tie. Stella is struck by the fact that her stomach is tied up in knots, but there’s nothing but joy on Ray’s face. It should be a relief; it is Ray’s wedding day after all. Her feelings are largely irrelevant.

She can’t help thinking about it though. How years can slip by, almost unnoticed, how friendship can turn to love, how love can turn to resentment.

She doesn’t believe in it, she realizes. Love. It’s a chemical cocktail, a fire that requires too much stoking, a fire that’s too easily snuffed out. She’s not bitter over it, at least she doesn’t think so, just scared. Ray is all intensity and tenacity, but all flames can be quenched eventually.

But then, that is the difference between Stella and Ray. She’s a thinker, driven by careful calculations. The projected benefits must outweigh the risks. Ray is a feeler. He jumps in, hoping that the reward will justify the risks. And he has survived, every time, if a bit more scarred for it.

It is Ray’s wedding day. Her feelings, her fears, are irrelevant.

“Let me,” she says as she walks up behind him and adjusts the knot.

“How do I look?” he asks.

“Perfect.”

Ray grins and turns, kisses her on the cheek.

“Are you ready?” she asks.

His smile widens, and she can’t help but mirror it. “Let’s go,” he says.


End file.
